Zack Snyder on Why There’s ‘No Winning Anymore for Superman’

It became abundantly clear in the trailers for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that the film would be playing into criticisms of 2013’s Man of Steel. The destruction of Metropolis would be a pivotal plot point of the movie and Superman would be forced, despite his perceptions as a hero, to answer for what happened.

Speaking with DC All Access in a print interview (which you can find in the back of any new DC comic you pick up this week), director Zack Snyder goes on to reveal that this sort of scrutiny for Superman isn’t limited to city-leveling destruction but the mundane heroics of the character as well, and that it’s a fight he may not win.

“Over the last two years he’s basically been Superman as pop culture would know him. He’s been righting wrongs, there have been floods, mines have collapsed, bridges have collapsed, churches have caught on fire. He’s basically been a hero. When we find him, he’s been dealing with the everyday world of being a superhero, but there’s a paradigm shift happening in that the unintended consequences of some of those rescues are starting to come into fruition. He’s starting to see that every action has a reaction. Like, if you’re just taking a cat out of a tree, you can’t touch anything or the arborists will say, ‘He damaged the tree branch when he got the cat down.’ Or, ‘The cat wasn’t neutered, so now there’s thousands of cats.’ There’s no winning anymore for Superman.”

He went on to illustrate the core conflict of the film, stemming from Batman’s perception of Superman.

“It’s interesting to see how Batman perceives Superman, because he doesn’t know who Superman is. All he knows is the public face of Superman. And if you have an idea about someone or if you start to doubt someone’s intentions, you can always read in the media, you can always see the face that you want to see, based on how it’s reported. Batman’s seen the destruction of Metropolis. That’s the thing he knows for a fact. So if thousands die, is that okay? What next? Millions? Is everyone okay with that? Because I’m not. That’s Batman’s point of view.”

In the film, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante, fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. And with Batman and Superman at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before.

Directed by Zack Snyder and written by Chris Terrio from a screenplay by David S. Goyer, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice stars Henry Cavill in the role of Clark Kent/Superman and Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman. The film also stars Gal Gadot as Diana Prince/Wonder Woman, with Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne and Diane Lane returning from Man of Steel, joined by Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons as Alfred, and Holly Hunter in a role newly created for the film. Jason Momoa will also be making an appearance as Aquaman.